Jon Stewart opened the Daily Show last night with an apology to viewers. In the wake of the horrific, racially motivated killing of nine African Americans at a South Carolina church Wednesday night, the host had no jokes.
He also held nothing back as he movingly spoke of the cycle of violence in America that never changes, despite terrible consequences that SHOULD serve as a wakeup call, but never does.
“I have one job, and it’s a pretty simple job. I come in in the morning and we look at the news and I write jokes about it,” Jon told the audience. “But I didn’t do my job today, so I apologize. I got nothing for you in terms of jokes and sounds because of what happened in South Carolina.”
“And maybe if I wasn’t nearing the end of the run or this wasn’t such a common occurrence, maybe I could have pulled out of a spiral, but I didn’t,” he continued. “And so I honestly have nothing other than just sadness, once again, that we have to peer into the abyss of the depraved violence that we do to each other and the nexus of a just gaping, racial wound that will not heal, yet we pretend doesn’t exist.”
“I’m confident, though, that by acknowledging it, by staring into that and seeing it for what it is, we still won’t do jack shit.” Jon said. “Yeah, that’s us, and that’s the part that blows my mind.”
“This is a terrorist attack. This is a violent attack on the Emanuel Church in South Carolina, which is a symbol for the black community,” he said. “This wasn’t a tornado. This was racist. This was a guy with a Rhodesia badge on his sweater.”
“We’re bringing it on ourselves,” said Jon. “And that’s the thing. Al Qaeda, Isis, all those guys. They aren’t sh*t, compared to the damage we can apparently do to ourselves on a regular basis.”
Watch his powerful monologue below.
Read more at THR